Research Articles

This paper explores how open-source software projects evolve. Factors include gains in quality, contributing programmers, and users who offer customer support. Commercial firms compete with open source projects, and must choose how to price their product in response to open source offerings.

Software plays a key role in economic growth. Some governments promote open source software to spur growth. Developers and users “mix and match” open source and proprietary software. Which type is “better” depends on the circumstances.

"Developers of software need some simple norms to live by. One such norm is that independent reimplementation of an API in one's own original code does not infringe copyright. That's the law as well as good public policy." — Pamela Samuelson, Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley